New report that Suggs hurt himself playing basketball surfaces

Posted by Josh Alper on June 5, 2012, 6:14 PM EST

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When word of Terrell Suggs’ Achilles injury first broke, reports were that he hurt himself playing basketball.

Suggs quickly said that he hurt it while doing a conditioning test and the matter fell away fairly quickly as everyone started trying to figure out when Suggs would be able to return to the team. The basketball story has returned, however.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Suggs appeared to hurt himself while playing in a basketball tournament. Herman Hoffman, director of the gym where the tournament was played, said that Suggs collided with another player and that’s when he thinks the injury happened.

“More than likely it was. My staff saw the whole incident. It was the condition you’d describe for a torn Achilles. He had no movement, no step, and it swelled up right away.”

When reached for a response, Suggs, through his agent, said again that he was hurt doing a conditioning test. The Ravens also responded, saying that they were only concerned with when Suggs will be ready to play this season.

Ultimately, it doesn’t much matter whether Suggs got hurt playing basketball or doing a conditioning test if the Ravens don’t try to recover any money from him. There’s no sign that the team plans to do that and they would be within their rights to go after his money either way because Suggs was hurt away from the team’s facility. Given the amount of charity basketball games players play in during the offseason — Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith hosted and played in one after hernia surgery this March — it would seem teams don’t have a major problem with players taking part.

Where the injury occurred has no bearing on when Suggs gets back on the field, though, and that seems to be the only concern the Ravens have right now.

39 responses to “New report that Suggs hurt himself playing basketball surfaces”

It was actually “extreme basketball”, played on a surface of uneven sharp boulders, high in the mountains, wearing a 40 pound pack, and attempting to score into a wolverine’s burrow. But it had great conditioning value.

THIS is exactly why NFL teams/owners need protection from idiot players like Suggs.

What is the Ravens recourse in this situation? Can they cut Suggs w/o a salary cap hit? No, but they should be given this kind of protection.
If Suggs can’t play should the team be forced to pay Suggs? Hell no they shouldn’t, but again there is no protection for the team, only woe-be-gone players.
I am firmly on the side of the NFL and teams on this one.

We will see how the purple pigeons do this year with their best pass rusher out for an extended period of time. Look at the bright side. At least you only have one pass rusher worth mentioning that could get hurt. Unlike what happened to Harrison asd Woodley last year.

@dryzzt23 – you sir are a moron. Suggs hurt himself playing basketball. He was playing basketball because it is a way for an athlete to keep himself in shape.

Suggs is a great team player and a team leader. Were he a headcase or jerk, the Ravens might well go after the money. But they have decided as a business decision that to do that would be counter productive to team morale.

This is why the Ravens are annual competitors for the playoffs and Superbowl and teams like the Bengals and the Browns are not.

Don’t know who you cheer for, but it is obvious that you know nothing about business.

Suggs shouldn’t get a cent for any games missed. He knew he wouldn’t get paid for injuries unrelated to football, and he still chose to play – then he chose to lie. Screw him, they should save the money – with him under contract, he has ZERO options. Everyone’s afraid Suggs will be “hurt” or “upset” if they dock him, but NFL players always insist “it’s a business” when contract time rolls around – look at Ed Reed, who’s feeling “disrespected” at only getting $7.3 Million. If Suggs doesn’t like it, he can hold out – AFTER he heals – and not get paid a red cent.

I dont think it matters what kind of activity it was that he got hurt doing. I once saw a guy pull a hamstring playing ping pong. The first time any team tries to recover money from a player for any type of activity that helps the player staying in shape – be it basketball, ping pong, weight lifting or anything else – expect every player in the league to show up fat and out of shape for camp. If they lose money for trying to stay in shape – expect them not to stay in shape, just for the sake of financial security. That’s what I’d do and so would you. Hence why the Ravens won’t even try and neither will anyone else.

Excellent idea. The media should also call them out for their lying too, especially when a players “issues a statement” through the team to explain a trangression and it is full legalese language or clearly written by a lawyer/PR team.

ppdoc13 – Why didn’t Suggs simply say that he was playing basketball to stay in shape instead of saying he was taking a conditioning test? I am pretty sure that most rational fans would understand that. Instead it seems that he, if the reports of him getting hurt while playing basketball are true, lied about it for some reason. If I was doing something on the up and up, I can’t come up with any reason to lie about it. Maybe it would have been best for him to say nothing at all and let the team handle it? Just a thought.

Of course, I can’t speak for all of Steeler Nation – but a lot of us, myself certainly included, respect the hell out of Suggs.

Guy is a baller that any sane person associated with the game would love to have on their team.

Lots of haters out there. Save that for the Bobby Petrinos of the world.

But when the topic at issue centers around a class athlete who brings it like T-Sizz, it should be nothing but a long list of knowledgeable fans, coaches and players praising his game, his motor and his heart.

I think the point here is being missed. Nobody actually knows that he’s lying. There’s a lot of assumptions being tossed out here. To believe that everything the media throws out there should be taken as fact is the height of naivety. The only person who actually knows what happened is him. Why should we assume that a player with no history of off field character issues is lying through his teeth for no reason? It makes no sense at all. It’s no as if he ran his motorcycle into a windshield with no helmet on, either. I’m just sayin…

The sad part is that the Ravens were probably going to honor the terms of the contract either way but Suggs took it upon himself to lie which is maddening. I can’t wait for cell phone footage to come out showing him hurt at the BBALL game. LIAR!

Every NFL contract has a “non-football injury” clause. Teams can withhold pay from any player injured in any way, other than organized team events. Teams just refuse to do so, in order not to anger their players.

I really don’t get why it matters whether he injured it playing basketball or doing conditioning training. The guy was trying to stay active and in-shape between seasons, who cares? Teams hate it when players show up overweight and out of shape, so which would they prefer – that players stay active or that they lay on the couch all off season?

I’m unapologetic in my hatred of the Ratbirds, but the organization is a class act and they WILL pay one of the best defensive players in the game. This whole thing is a non-story.

I am sorry I am missing where people are getting that Suggs lied about where he was injured. He said he was working out, he didn’t mention any specific exercise that he was doing. Last I checked playing basketball was a heck of a workout.

Anyway, I am still sick of hearing about how the Ravens MIGHT dock his pay. That report came from speculating members of the media, who pointed out that it was an option. No source close to the Ravens have even mentioned it as a possibility.

It takes about 2 years to really come back from this kind of injury and regain explosion. Sizzle is getting up there in age and in 2 years time the bell will toll. He’s not Ray Lewis and he plays a very different role and position than Ray. Sizzle is most likely done being the player we saw last year.

And in the faithful words of Sizzle’s favorite music artist, Brand Nubian – Punks jump up to get beat down.

If this was how the injury happened anyone consider the chance that the coaching staff, front office, and Suggs agreed to the story in order to keep the attention away from the player and team? Think about it for a minute. They know the media will have a feeding frenzy, analysts will debate endlessly whether you should pay him or not, and the team has zero requirements to disclose anything at all.

If true, the haters will say that is dishonest and say more lame Ratbirds comments but this is a team issue and if they don’t want to deal with questions about paying him or not then I am completely fine with it.